Downton Abbey causes soaring sales for lingerie brand

After a mention on Downton Abbey, sales at Lucile lingerie have increased by 48 per cent

First it was Fifty Shades of Grey that took responsibility for a record £1.5 billion sales in lingerie this year and now the rather more sexually tame Downton Abbey has caused its own underwear stampede.

In a recent episode of the current series, Maggie Smith’s character, Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess of Grantham, discusses with Cora Crawley, what underwear former bride-to-be Lady Edith should wear.

Violet says: ‘She’d pay for a Patou.’ But Cora thinks otherwise saying: ‘They will go for a Lucile as they wouldn’t want her to look like a chorus girl.’

Following a mention of the lingerie company on the hit show, they have enjoyed a huge sales increase of almost 50 per cent with a surge in the number of visitors to their website too.

Lucile haute couture was the brand du jour in the 1920s thanks to its founder Lady Duff Gordon who was dubbed an ‘It Girl’ of the of the Belle Epoque era. After the brand was set up in 1890, the baton of dressing women has now been passed to Lady Duff’s great great granddaughter.

Lucile has reopened trading and by the looks of things it’s going down a storm. Their silk Indescretions Gown, £715, has sold out and there is now a waiting list for the Duchess of Warwick short kimono, £499.

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